Archive for December, 2013

Women’s MMA is great – I believe that Rhonda Rousey is one of the best fighters on the planet, as everyone knows what she is going to do and no one can stop it. Having said that, women’s MMA has not developed yet and is probably about 5 – 10 years behind the men.

Before you get grumpy, here me out – as it stands the best female on the planet has one move. This is like Gracie back in the day – he would beat you off his back and no one could solve that puzzle. Pena, who won TUF 18, went up against a 8 time world boxing champ and smashed her. That is going back to the days of the powerhouse wrestler versus the striker, where the wrestler just closes the distance gets the take down and unloads GnP.

One of the main reasons you can see that women’s MMA is not quite there yet is the public opinion of them in the cage. Going back years ago, all the guys in the cage were thought of as animals and it was just street fighting. Now it is the women that are getting the same treatment, with people saying that women shouldn’t be fighting. The one comment that drives me nuts is when two girls are in their fighting and you get ‘take it off’, ‘where’s the jelly’ etc – the girls are in there fighting there arse off and you have some idiot sexualizing the sport. Sadly it is a part of life – while looks can be used for posters and the fight build up, once they step in the cage it is game on. People should then focus on the skills and athleticism not how hot they are. Once more women get in the cage and put on great fights, women’s MMA will become more accepted –no one seems to care about women’s boxing anymore and that is because people are used to it.

As women have not been allowed to compete at the highest level for very long it will take a little while to catch up, but when they do it is going to be great for the sport. Personally I love watching the top women in the cage, they put on a great fight and watching to see if someone can throw a spanner in the Rhonda Rousey machine is always very interesting to see.

Once more skilled women get in the cage and compete it will grow the sport and in turn bring more skilled females to MMA. Having women compete on the UFC is massive and it gives young fighters a path which they can follow, and the younger they start training the better that they will be. The future looks exciting, even if that means that there will be plenty of girls out there that can kick my arse.

Gareth Lewis
Head MMA Instructor
http://www.Lockdown.co.nz/